After
by Amelia Friend
Summary: What comes after one night?
1. Chapter 1

**Yes I'm back again - this is a sequel to my other story, One Night, but you don't really need to read that, everything you need to understand will become clear in just a few lines in this story.**

**Now, don't let me stop you - on with the story.**

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Skye let out a short gasp as she walked into her bed ... thing, and noticed a tiny Jemma Simmons curled up in a ball beside the bed, hidden from the line of sight unless you were to physically walk into the room - an unlikely event considering what happened the last time someone came into her bedroom without prior consent.

Skye opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, looking closely at the frail body of the scientist, curled around herself, something was seriously wrong - that much the young hacker could work out, even without the help of the unnaturally still posture, the hands clenched tightly in each other as they were clasped around her legs, or the scarily blank look in her eyes as she stared at the bed.

"You okay, Simmons?" She asked tentatively, unsure as to what she should be doing. "Because, no offence, but Fitz looks just about ready to send out a search party."

It was partly true - after breakfast, Simmons had disappeared, saying she'd be back in '_just a minute_', and had never returned. It was now nearly lunchtime - relatively speaking of course - in the time zone immediately below them it was just approaching midnight.

There wasn't any response from the young woman - not a spoken acknowledgement of Skye's words, not even a minor shift in her body position to indicate she had _heard_ the words.

Skye crouched next to her, eyes flicking towards the door as she pondered momentarily whether she should leave and get Fitz - who'd probably have more of an idea of what to do in this situation. She shook her head, as if that would remove the idea from her head - if Simmons had wanted Fitz, she's have gone to his bunk, or the Lab, or ... pretty much anywhere on the Bus.

No.

Simmons had come _here_ for a reason - even if Skye couldn't work out what that reason was.

"Simmons? Simmons. _Jemma_." She looked up at the last one, though whether from the change of name or the slight exasperation that bled through her voice without Skye really meaning it to, the younger woman wasn't exactly sure.

At this point, though, she didn't really care.

Jemma's eyes quickly reverted back down, aimed at her own hands this time, almost as if she was attempting to stare through them - an ability that Skye would not necessarily put past the two scientists to come up with, should they ever decide to put their minds to it.

Realising she wasn't (yet) able to see through flesh and bone, Simmons' loosened her hands grip on each other, so that they slipped apart only slightly, but enough to reveal a sliver of white plastic that Skye recognised well enough - even if not from direct personal experience, she'd seen friends use them before.

Skye worked her friend's hands open ever so slightly more, just enough to remove the offending piece of plastic - and sighed, the little pink cross staring up accusingly - agreeing with the worst case scenario, wondering how long the scientist had been sat alone with nothing but her own thoughts for company.

"Oh Jemma," she whispered, her voice soft, as her friend's shoulders began shake almost imperceptibly with gentle sobs.

For a few moments they sat in silence, Skye knowing that the biochemist didn't need anything more than someone _there_ just yet - as she cried for reasons that even with two PhDs she didn't quite understand.

Eventually the shaking stopped and she looked up, her face so lost and young - younger than Skye at that moment.

"How long have you known?" Skye didn't raise her voice, well aware of how thin the walls could be in this place, her natural curiosity overriding ... everything.

"For sure, this morning. But I think I've just ignored it for a while." Jemma didn't have to worry about raising her voice - she wasn't sure she could even if she tried.

"And how far do you think..."

"Eleven weeks and four days." Simmons finished before Skye could even finish her question.

"That's, uh, precise." Skye remarked, her eyebrows nearly at her hairline.

"It's the only...I mean ... I only ... A year ... and outside of SHIELD..." Simmons never stammered, ever - she was always so sure and confident in her words and her work and in everything she could do, and Skye felt that this was truly the first time she realised just how young Jemma was as well - she'd never appeared this young, even during the...

Just over eleven weeks - that was just under three months right - and just under three months ago was the ...

"Just after when you were ... infected." They didn't like to speak of it, even now, didn't like to think how close they came to losing their friend forever.

"It was just one night... Me and Fitz..." Her voice trailed off again

"So it is Fitz," Skye would have laughed, had that response not been entirely inappropriate for the situation, but never the less, she made a mental note to collect on her bet with Ward.

"Who else would it ever be?" Her smile was watery, but it was a smile, and it was real - reaching her eyes - so Skye counted that as a win - but her face quickly returned to its previous pensive state.

"We were protected... I don't ... I don't understand." She was talking to herself more than Skye, but Skye felt she had to reply regardless.

"And sometimes these things happen." It came out harsher than she intended, leading to an uncomfortable wince as she struggled to find suitable words to follow up with.

As it turns out, she didn't have to.

Jemma let out a short gasp of air, a short laugh of sorts that didn't lend itself to the producer having found anything funny, just extremely unusual. "This changes everything."

Skye didn't know what to say - at least not consciously, so she just let herself talk. "Yes. I suppose it does." Jemma opened her mouth to cut her off, but Skye shook her head needing to continue. "And it isn't going to go away by pretending it's not happening. You're ... what ... actually, how old are you?" Skye trailed off slightly curious as to why she had never asked this before.

"Twenty five," she supplied with a smile, the traces of tears all but gone.

"You're twenty five and whether you like it or not, there's a baby or a foetus, or whatever in there, and it's up to you and Fitz what happens next, because hiding isn't going to make it any better."

Skye's eyes blanked as she lost herself in distant memories for a moment, and was suddenly snapped out by Simmons' remark of, "I really hope it's not a whatever."

And it wasn't funny, not really - not to anyone outside of their job anyway, but for some reason, they found they couldn't stop laughing, as the seriousness of their conversation fell away and they were just two young women in their early twenties trying to find out what they're meant to be doing with their life, and royally screwing up along the way.

The door slid open suddenly, exposing the intimidating form (at least while he was stood, and they were still sat on the ground - why they hadn't moved to the bed at the some point baffled the pair but they didn't dwell upon it) of Ward, an almost unamused expression on his face.

"You're twenty minutes late for training." He told her, and suddenly Skye remembered why she had come into her bunk in the first place.

"... Oops?" She tried, an apologetic smile on her face.

He rolled his eyes, and turned to leave. "Oh, and Simmons," he added, "Fitz has been wondering where you are down in the Lab."

A flurry of emotions flickered across her face, all the while underpinned by one, very serious, very familiar look - determination.

Skye smiled as the other woman left to speak to her other half, left to change their futures forever.

"What was that about?" Ward asked, suddenly confused.

"None of your business." She replied immaturely sticking her tongue out at him, but following him down to the training area - the one at the opposite end to the Lab - anyway.

Regardless of how this went, Skye thought as she picked up a water bottle she knew she'd be desperate for in just a minute or two, one thing was for sure - life on the Bus was going to get strange after this.

Well... _stranger_, anyway.

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**Thank you for reading, and please review,**

**Mia.**

**Oh - and if anyone has any idea how Simmons would tell Fitz - you mind sharing?**


	2. Chapter 2

Her footsteps had never sounded louder as she made her way down the metal staircase, the lab (their lab) coming into view, and with it - the familiar and frantic movements of Fitz.

Taking a deep breath, she didn't allow herself to falter or stop - knowing that should she do so, she may just hide in her bunk for the next six or seven months.

And the next eighteen years after.

Finally needing to stop as she inputted the code to open the clear lab doors, her hand hovered just above the final button needed, noting with a slight smile that he still hadn't noticed her coming down the stairs, so immersed in his own work as he was - but that short pause was enough to bring back all her earlier worries and fears in full force - this ... particular turn of events ... this wasn't something they'd ever discussed, they'd never even thought to discuss an incident such as this.

Was she even doing the right thing?

They were only twenty five, with dangerous jobs, no permanent home beyond a freaking _plane_, and as for family members that so much as acknowledged their existence anymore - let's just say that even between the pair, there weren't many.

Surely the better, the easier path to take would be just hide for a week or two, just until they touched down in America again - it could be all ... sorted out in a matter of hours, she could convince Skye it was all for the best, and Fitz would never have to know - nothing would ever have to change.

Except it already had changed, it had been changed for a long time now.

She pressed the final button, the doors opening with a definitive swoosh, the disturbance enough for Fitz to swivel on the spot, fixing her with an accusing glare, but waiting for her to make the first move.

She opened her mouth to speak - she had to do this quickly, or there was chance she never would. "I'm ... I'm ..."

"The next word out of your mouth had better be 'sorry'. Do you know how much more work it is when you leave me to do everything alone?" His voice sounded almost petulant, but accusing at the same time, a skill he had long since perfected.

"_Fitz_." She tried again, trying to put some urgency into her voice, trying to get him to _listen_.

"No," he interrupted. "Last time I checked - '_just a minute_' does not take all morning, even Coulson asked where you were. _Twice_. And that really means..."

"Fitz will you just _shut up _for one second." He looked wounded, his eyes widening as Simmons lost her temper and eventually yelled - well, almost yelled anyway, the horrific pounding in her head only getting worse with the stress of arguing with her best friend (_her child's father_, an unwanted voice in her head supplied).

"There's no need to yell, okay." If anything _his _voice got louder, while somehow remaining put out, turning his back to her, returning to his work, busying his hands with something just so he didn't have to look at her. "You're the one who's been acting really weird these past few weeks, the one who's been avoiding _me_, so why should _I_ shut up because you won't talk. Give me one good reason wh..."

His voice was cut off with Simmons' exasperated statement.

"Because I'm _pregnant_, you bloody _idiot_."

In hindsight, that probably could have come out better, but hyperventilating slightly as she watched her lab partner react, Jemma couldn't be faulted for not caring.

She didn't quite know what she expected following her outburst - but watching Fitz blink wordlessly a few times, as he paled further than she had ever seen him turn (and that included the incident with the wasp nest) and crumple to the floor - would actually have come quite close to the top of the list anyway.

Making sure he hadn't hit his head or anything, and had actually just fainted, she took the momentary silence as a blessing, using it as a chance to even out her breathing - for it was extremely likely that Fitz would still be ... off when he regained consciousness again, and really they shouldn't _both_ be overreacting.

Though considering she was the one who was actually pregnant, it was kind of annoying.

Crouching beside her other (and to some, her better) half, she passed a half full bottle of water over as his eyes fluttered open, still a tad disorientated, and not quite able to shift from his seated position on the floor, for fear of a repeat performance.

"I didn't just make that up did I?" he asked weakly.

A sad half-smile passed quickly over her lips before it was gone. "That depends," she hedged, "On what you think you did or did not make up."

His eyes flicked from her stomach to her face and back down again. He didn't _have_ to say anything.

"No." Her voice was almost inaudible, her eyes specifically aimed anywhere but at him, not needing _any_ of the emotions that could be passing through his eyes just at the moment.

"How far, um, along are you?" He just had to check, had to know...

"Almost three months." Came her soft reply.

He could do the maths just as well as she could, and remembered the night just as vividly as she did.

"But how ... how?"

"I should think even _you_ should have had that talk by now Leo," Her words were almost withering, but spoken with a quaking voice, and the look in her eyes - the one only Fitz had ever got close enough to decipher - betrayed her fear, avoiding his true question with true skill.

She sighed, knowing she _had_ to answer the underlying question - they weren't stupid, the combined precautionary methods they had undertaken should have rendered a talk such as this one unwarranted.

"It must have malfunctioned or ... or something." Her mind instantly supplied statistics she could quote, probabilities that this could have happened, but she shoved them away. It's not like they'd do much good anyway. "I don't know... I didn't plan..."

Didn't plan to get infected with an alien virus.

Didn't plan to throw herself off of a plane without a parachute.

Didn't plan to sleep with her best friend.

Didn't plan to end up pregnant with his child.

Didn't plan to have this conversation curled in a ball on the floor in their lab.

A lot of her life hadn't gone exactly to plan recently - wasn't that supposed to be the fun of it.

She felt tears rising and blinked them back, really not needing to deal with _that_ as well as everything else right now.

Her hand slipped unconsciously to her stomach - for the first time since fully coming to the realisation that something, a future someone was _growing_ in there - as she raised her eyes to his level. "I'm terrified Fitz," she admitted, the watery smile that accompanied it, saying more than her words ever could.

He had no words to reply with, in that moment, none of the platitudes or jokes he'd use to diffuse the situation in usual circumstances - if these had been usual circumstances - if it wasn't him and Jemma sat on the floor on the lab, trying to work out the rest of their lives together.

He simply raised his arm, in a silent gesture and she slipped closer, fitting into the gap between his body and his arm like two pieces of a puzzle - like she was meant to be there.

"Are you ... are you keeping it?" He rubbed his face with his one hand as he spoke, the other never ceasing in it's reassuring hold on Jemma's upper arm - torn between the desire not to push her, and the want, the need to know the answer to that question.

"I wan... I mean I think I ... uh, I mean if y..." she trailed off from her stammering of four sentences at the same time, looking just about on the verge of tears yet again. "Yes." Her voice was firm, and it was only in that moment she realised how much she actually truly wanted this - a baby, a child, the perfect mixture of the two of them. "Yes," she repeated, the tears all but gone already - and the smile that passed over Fitz's lips didn't pass fast enough for her to miss it, knowing it had been the answer he had been hoping for, even if he wouldn't admit it.

They fell back into a comfortable silence, the sort they had become used to working through in their many years in the lab together, almost able to understand the other telepathically having lived within the same little bubble for so long.

It was Fitz who broke it, his barely murmured voice loud in the stillness of the room. "What are we going to do?" There was a slight weariness bleeding through his words - something that Simmons could easily agree with, was it really just twenty minutes ago she had been debating whether to come into the room, four and a half hours since she took the test. It seemed so much more and so much less all at the same time.

She sighed, lolling her head back until it fit into the gap between his shoulder and his neck. "I don't know Leo."

Regardless, they couldn't go back anymore.

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**Thank you for reading, and please review,**

**Mia**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3! A longer gap than the others - but real life got in the way, sorry.**

**And seriously you guys, _seventy two_ alerts in what, six days - that's just amazing and I love you all, and please review - even if just to say 'cool', and if you have any prompts or requests, feel free to leave them as a review or a PM.**

**Okay, bye and on with what you came here for.**

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It was a Saturday morning - the Saturday only two days after the _Day_ - and the entire team, well, the entire team barring only Coulson (who was still working in his office, finishing up with the extra paperwork that came with being their boss) was gathered in the main seating area, for no reason other than it had the comfiest chairs, and they had nothing better to do - no mission, no training, no lab work that needed doing in the next few hours anyway.

They were debating the pros and cons of various board games, not even two of them able to agree on a single game, and it was looking more likely that a mission would occur, before the group of five supposedly adults made up their mind about what to do - a fact made further likelier as they heard Coulson's shoes approach them in the same measured steps he usually took.

"Simmons," he started and three members of the team turned back to what they were doing before, only FitzSimmons remaining looking at Coulson. "There appears to be an error in some paperwork you filed this morning, if you could come now and we can sort it out." It wasn't a question - it was a statement and she knew what he was talking about almost instantly.

Of course she did, it was only a few hours before that she had placed the paperwork tentatively on his desk before disappearing as fast as was humanly possible to go - and was thankful he didn't mention the name of the form in front of the whole team.

Coulson left as quickly as he appeared, retreating once more to his office to wait for the biochemist, and Simmons made to start to follow him, before turning around.

"Fitz?" The engineer looked up at his name. "You coming?"

"He wanted to talk to you, not me." He protested, not really wanting to sit in a meeting about _paperwork_.

"And this is just as much your fault as it is mine, so you're _coming_." She hissed, a hint of venom imbibed within that promised ... that promised something, were he not to come with her.

A flash passed across his eyes with sudden understanding - and how could he have _forgotten_, even just for a few minutes - standing quickly, and following his other half in Coulson's footsteps.

Ward looked up as they left, not confused by them going as a pair, but by the cryptic repertoire that had preceded it - but returned to their discussion when Skye just shrugged - even if her eyes didn't quite meet his, and May just looked as blank as always as she argued her point - and if he thought he saw a hint of a smirk underneath the layers of nothingness - well, he wasn't going to be the one to bring it up to the _Cavalry_.

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It began with a sigh - from Coulson unsurprisingly as he picked up the stapled pile of papers that Simmons had painstakingly filled out just that morning.

"This is a request for maternity leave." It was a statement - he didn't ask questions that he already knew the answers to.

"Yes." Jemma's response was soft, but still loud in the quiet of the room - audible clearly over the gentle hum of the airplane engines.

"This is a request for maternity leave in just over six months." Another statement and Simmons opened her mouth to speak again, when Coulson closed his eyes and took a breath. "Do you know how many rules this breaks, how many regulations you have ignored?"

Jemma's hand found Leo's almost unconsciously - as if daring him to separate them.

"I'm not going to split you up," and Jemma released a breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding - she was only just going to be able to do everything _with_ Leo by her side every step of the way, she dreaded to think what would happen should they be sent to separate bases on opposite ends of the Earth - and it had happened before, in cases not quite the same, but similar to this, "nor am I going to tell you to leave SHIELD or even this team, unless you wish to. You work too well together as a team, and I'd hate for anyone else to have you."

The worst was over, the fear of separation having played on both of their minds since they discovered the pregnancy, and the rest of the conversation continued in a gentler same style - confirming responses on the paperwork, and planning responses for the higher ups when news inevitably got passed along to them.

It was a long nearly forty minutes, that had Simmons close to irrational tears at more than one point, as the whole situation became more real with each passing question, until ... _finally_ ... they were released.

They stood to leave in the same sense of exhaustion they had spent the past two days, headed for the door, the lab, and (quite possibly) sleep.

"And FitzSimmons." They turned back as one to look at their boss, and he smiled, genuinely happy for the pair. "Congratulations."

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"...And you can stop going into the field."

"_Limit _my time in the field, Coulson said I didn't have to stop just yet," she immediately countered, an obviously ongoing argument between the pair as it had been the third time Ward had walked in on the identical set of statement since the duo had left Coulson's office just over twenty six hours previously.

Each time before, the two stopped talking in their (supposedly) hushed tones the moment he moved into their line of sight, as he expected them to do this time - but in actuality, all that happened was that they glanced at him in the same perfectly in time motion that may or may not privately creep him out a little bit, and returned directly to their ... conversation.

"I don't know why you're getting this worked up this early on Fitz. It's won't be anything I haven't done a thousand times already, anyway - and you _know_ it."

"But it's not just you now is it Jemma." They had forgotten Ward was even in the room, so involved they were in their argument - neither of them willing to back down from their positions - Fitz just wanting Simmons and the baby safe (well, as safe as it was possible to be within SHIELD), and Simmons understanding his point of view, but not giving up the entirety of field work _this_ early on, on the possibility that something might happen (even if _probability_ might be the better word with the field work they do these days).

Fitz groaned, throwing his hands up into the air and leaving the room with a decidedly unimpressed look on his face.

Ward held up his glass. "Drink?" he offered to the young biochemist just as Skye walked into the room.

"No thanks," she muttered, sitting on one of the many chairs around, "Bad for the baby."

Ward nodded, returning to his own thoughts as he took another sip, when Simmons words finally hit him in the split second before he meant to swallow his mouthful, causing him to splutter, his eyes wide, as Skye burst into giggles - unable not to, as she watched her S.O. lose his composure for one of the very few times since they had met.

"I'm so sorry," Jemma's eyes were wide, partially with shock, and partially with amusement, as she handed over a wad of paper towels - from her pocket, and why she was in the habit of carrying paper towels around he really didn't want to know - for him to wipe the droplets that had landed everything following his minor break in his usual perfect manner.

"I assumed you knew - everyone else does."

Her eyes glanced over to Skye in a way that was probably meant to be secretive but _really_ wasn't, and the younger hacker jumped to defend herself.

"You told me not to tell anyone," her tone was slightly put out by Simmons' lack of belief in her secret keeping abilities. "So I didn't tell anyone."

A slight commotion by the door startled them as Fitz walked back in, unaware of the events of the previous ... minute or so he had managed to stay away from Jemma for, " - and for another thing Simmons."

He started, but stopped when he noticed Ward glancing from him to Jemma and back again, not even trying to be subtle about it.

"You couldn't even tell him when I was in the room?" Fitz caught on quickly, and there was an incredulous note in his voice - he had wanted to see Ward's face when the elder agent found it out - even if Ward's reddened face and too wide eyes , not to mention the slightly damp pile of napkins next to him, gave a fairly good indication of what had occurred.

"It's on the security camera," she placated him as they left the room again, returning to their lab and (presumably) their argument, leaving Ward with a still chuckling Skye.

He put his head in his hands - three non-combat ready members (because no matter what Skye believed, she _wasn't_ combat ready) on the plane was bad enough - but a _baby_?

"I need a drink."

Skye just laughed.

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**Thank you for reading, and please review,**

**Mia**


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